e-assessment in project e-scape

Richard Kimbell

2007,Vol. 12,No. 2,

Abstract

In this paper I shall present a new model of
assessment – derived specifically in the context of the
latest research and development project being
undertaken in TERU at Goldsmiths College. The paper
starts with an analysis of some of the roots of our
assessment practice in norm and criterion referencing,
and I indicate some of the pitfalls of the criterion
referencing approach that was developed as part of
the England/Wales National Curriculum in the early
1990s. I then describe what we have done over the
last couple of years in TERU to enable learners to
create e-portfolios for assessment within project
e-scape. Using these e-portfolios, I then present a
completely new approach to assessment developed
in association with the former head of research at the
University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate.
The approach was (on the face of it) simple, using a
web-based interface. But the outcome was
astonishing – producing reliability statistics of 0.93: far
higher than can be achieved in normal coursework
assessment. The issues that this approach raises are
many and profound, not the least of which is the
possibility of a new, trustworthy, conceptualisation of
what coursework assessment might become.
I conclude with a brief projection into the future –
both in terms of how e-scape is planned to develop
over the next few years and in terms of what its
consequences might be in the classroom.